Rolling mill



April 8, 1930. L. JOHNSON ROLLING MILL Filed July 21, 1928 INVENTORPatented Apr. 8, 1930 UNITED STATES PATENT oFF- ca F LANE'JOHNSON, OFINGRAM, PENNSYLVANIA, ASSIGNOR TO UNITED ENGINEERINGEE FOUNDRY COMPANY,OF PITTSBURGH, PENNSYLVANIA,- A CGRIPOIRA'l'IO-N OF'PENN SYLVANIA.

ROLLING MILL This invention relates to rolling mills, and isparticularly useful in the rolling of material which it is desired tofinish at a low rolling temperature. Certain strip product, such as thatused for tight cooperage, must have a relatively high elastic limit andthis is obtained by finishing at a low rolling tempera ture. The lengthsof material handled are so great that it is impracticable to roll thesame with a continuous mill because there is not sufficient room to setthe material aside to cool before passing through the finishing stand.Various schemes, such as placing different mills out of alignment withone another, have been proposed, but these are not ordinarilysatisfactory because the flexibility of the unit is reduced. At times itis desired to use the same equipment for rolling without any time lapsebetween stands and in such case it is desirable to have all the mills inline with one another so that they may be used as a continuous millinstallation.

I provide a travelling receiving support arranged to receive thematerial as it issues from one millstand and carry it to the nextmillstand. A vibrator is preferably employed so that the material islooped on the support. It is important that the several loops be keptout of engagement with one another as they have an eflect upon thecooling if they are in contact, and'anon-uniform product results.Another disadvantage of the oldarrangements is that the successivepieces of material are likely to adversely affect one another duringcooling.

The looped material is carried by the travelling support toward thefinishing millstands and the time of travel is made adj ustable so thatthe desired temperature reduction may be had before the final rolling.

The support is preferably in the form of a table conveyor and provisionis made for moving this conveyor out of alignment with the mills so thata run-way trough may be placed between the stands, thus making itpossible to use the millstands as a continuous mill.

The accompanying figure of drawing illustrates more or lessdiagrammatically the present preferred.embodiment of my invention.

In the drawing there is shown a series of millstandsQ and edgers 3 forthe hot rolling of a'strip. The direction of rolling isindicated by anarrow A. I Asthe material issues from thelast stand of-rolls it passesthrough a vibrator 4 which alternately directs. it to one side or theother of a travelling chain table conveyor 5. Such vibrators-aremwellknown and need not be specifically described. The material is caused tolie in loops L on the chain table 5, these loops being out of contactwith one another so that the desired cooling effect is obtained. The topsurface of the table support 5 moves in the direction of the arrow B sothat the looped material is carried toward the first stand of a seriesof finishing rolls 6. The speed at which the support 5 moves isdetermined'by a rheostat 7 controlling the motor 8 which drives thetable through gearing 9. By changing the speed of the motor the lengthof time which the looped material lies on the support 5 may be varied.When it reaches the finishing mill 6 it is entered and is rolled therebyThe temperature may be adjusted to a nicety by at the desired reducedtemperature.

varying the length of time spent in travelling over the conveyor.

The material, after rolling in the finishing mill 6, is delivered to arun-out trough 10 from which it passes to a cooling bed 11.

The conveyor table is mounted on track wheels 12 running on tracks 13 sothat the entire table may be moved to the right or to the left as viewedin the drawing. A runout trough 14 is carried by the table and may beplaced between the mills 2 and 6. It will be noted that the mills 2 and6 are in alignment so when the run-out trough 14: is in position theunit may be operated as a continuous mill.

I have illustrated and described the present preferred embodiment of myinvention, but it will be understood that the invention is not limitedto this form alone, as it may be otherwise embodied withinv the scope ofthe following claims.

I claim? 1. In combination with spaced-apart mill stands arranged inalinement, a traveling support between the mill stands, the supportbeing movable out of the path of the material issuing for one of themill stands, and a run-out trough adapted to lie between said millstands and extend from one to the other thereof, the run-out troughbeing movable into alinement with the mill stands substantiallysimultaneously with the movement of the traveling support out ofalinement therewith.

2. In combination with spaced apart millstands arranged in alignment, atravelling support between the millstands, means whereby the support maybe moved out of the path of material issuing from one of the millstands,and a run-out trough movable into alignment with the millstands, therun-out trough being carried by the support and movable into alignmentwith the millstands when the support is moved from its positiontherebetween.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand.

LANE JOHNSON.

